The use of sexed semen in dairy herds

Abstract

Artificial insemination of cattle became a commercial reality in 1936, and in 1952 the first calves were born as a result of freeze-thawed semen insemination. The long-held aspiration for pre determination of sex became a reality with the development of sperm sorting technology with the first female calves being born in the UK in 1999. While most breeding companies supply sexed semen sorted by the original flow cytometry method, Genus ABS have developed the method of sperm deactivation. Whatever the method sexing accuracy exceeds 90% and conception rates can be expected to be comparable to conventional semen but only when management is good and importantly there are considerable variations in the fertility of different bulls as a result of the sorting process. The use of sexed semen offers producers an opportunity to maximise the beef production from the dairy herd while accelerating genetic improvement.

Mating allocations in Nordic Red Dairy Cattle using genomic information

“…The value of 1 index unit of NTM was approximated to be €24.8, based on the value per NTM unit and year (€9.2) the average and production lifetime (2.7 yr; Fikse and Kargo, 2020). We only considered sexed semen and assumed a 0.9 probability of producing a female conceptus, which is the minimum expected sexing rate for most sexing technologies (Burnell, 2019). Sexed semen is gaining popularity in the Nordic countries and is combined with the use of beef semen to get the number of heifers needed for the next generation.…”

Youngstock Management as “The Key for Everything”? Perceived Value of Calves and the Role of Calf Performance Monitoring and Advice on Dairy Farms

“…This issue is recognised in the industry-the Dairy Cattle Welfare Strategy for Great Britain aims to eliminate the practise of euthanasia of healthy calves by 2023 through adaptations to the market supply chain (AHDB, 2020b). Dairy producers in the UK are striving to reduce the number of lower value dairy bull calves coming onto the market by the strategic use of sexed semen to breed dairy herd replacements (Burnell, 2019). This strategy is particularly pertinent in relation to Jersey and small stature cross-bred dairy cows (Berry et al, 2018), especially in low input dairy block calving systems.…”